Main Content

Surprising old tech

Last week we invited local teens and families to check out our old (outdated, ancient) technology for Teen Tech Week. Of the dozens of folks who stopped by, some remembered the tech from their own childhoods, others were seeing it for the very first time.

Typing on a manual typewriter, using a rotary phone, holding a heavy camera, or a walkman that had both a radio and a tape player, or using a record player and listening to what happens on the wrong rpm setting were all experiences older adults take for granted.For our teens however, they were a chance to explore technology that was maybe not so old, but was definitely not so familiar.

We asked them what surprised them, and here are some of their responses:

"The stereo, cause I’ve only seen it once." - Karlee

"How phones would go all the way around." - John

"How old Apple really is, woah!" - Zack

"How slow the typewriter was." - Christina

"The gameboys were like big and had bigger parts. Wow!" - Berea

"How hard it is to type on a typewriter." - Georgia

"That gameboys had lights." - Beth

"How the computers look like and their size." - Beth

"The computer from the 1980s was portable." - Carlie

Thanks to everyone who donated to this display, and who helped introduce our teens to some of the experiences of the past. Thanks to all of the teens who stopped by and took a few minutes to see what it was all about.